Arsenal star to miss Monday’s game with Crystal Palace but it isn’t all bad news

Arsene Wenger confirmed that Laurent Koscileny will miss Monday’s trip to Crystal Palace, but has said the injury is not as serious as first feared.

When asked how long Koscielny will be out for he said: “Shorter than expected.”

“It is not a tendon (injury), no,”he added.

Gabriel came in and did fairly well against West Ham, but most evidence suggests that was not what we can expect most weeks.

The drop in standard once Kosclieny went off in both legs against Bayern Munich show just how important a player he is to the club. So while him missing Monday’s game is bad news, the fact he could be back sooner rather than later is a big boost.

It is a little troubling though just how many injuries the Frenchman picks up these days. They may only be a week here, three weeks there. But Koscileny is in his thirties now and things like this are only gojng to become more frequent.

He is such an important player for us and I feel he will need to be managed well over the next couple of seasons.